Utah County government has fought off a tax increase for 11 years, and commissioners will hold the line for next year but don't expect it to last forever.

While commissioners gave preliminary approval to the $83 million tentative 2008 budget on Tuesday, the alarm was sounded by the clerk/auditor's office.

The reserve fund will be used much more, and budget projections are much less conservative than in the past.

"We were pretty much pushing right to the limit what those projections were," Clerk/Auditor Bryan Thompson said on Wednesday.

That's because county government is flush with requests for money and Thompson wants to make sure they know how much will be available.

Those requests are mostly related to growth and everything that comes with it:

•The jail expansion will add more than $4 million to the budget.

•A salary study is expected to show that Utah County not only employs fewer people per capita than similar governments, but that it also pays less. The likely cost to bring the county into parity will be $3.5 million.

• A blistering economy with unemployment hovering between 2-3 percent means finding people for open positions is more difficult.

"We need more sheriffs, we need more assessors, we need more everything," said Commissioner Gary Anderson.

The 2008 budget has a 5.5 percent increase built in, funded mainly by growth.

"We are not raising taxes," Anderson said. "I don't vote for people that increase taxes, and I don't expect people to vote for me if I increase taxes."

That said, he foresees an increase in perhaps three years given current trends. The county passed on the opportunity to collect an additional $2 million in property taxes because of climbing home prices this year. Instead commissioners lowered the tax rate, keeping revenues a wash.

Avoiding a tax increase means being creative with resources, something the county has gotten a little complacent with during the good years.

It also means getting tough with department requests. The budget is still $5.5 million over projections, an amount that will have to be cut before the final budget is passed because of Utah's balanced budget laws.

For example, the SWAT team wants a $300,000 armored car.

"They're not going to get an armored car," Anderson said.

• Joe Pyrah can be reached at 344-2559 or jpyrah@heraldextra.com.